To Be a Greek: A Warrior's Way

Even if I'm cloaked in bronze armor and helm
With sword and my pike now ready at my side
All the Persian beasts would still charge walls
For they'll follow their orders, as acts of valor
A Greek in his phalanx is called to sell this life
No cheap cost, for a Greek life is worth many
Greeks will live free, dying for home and right
For no emperor nor conqueror will defeat us
Wearing helm and plumage, swinging swords
We are drawn to life in blood, for all justice
To offer sacrifice, raise spears to toast Hades
And to great Athena, for her wise strategies
Only equals give their lives in such displays
For we are Greek, and this will be our day

Just One Life

This is our single life, we've no second life
Dreaming is a joy we've no reason to have
If this life is not easy, nor should it ever be
The alternative is to have never have lived
The alternative is to never have had tears
For a new life, for a lost life, for anything
I'll seek hope, even hope isn't easy to find
I seek courage, even should I be a coward
I wish a future of many confirmed dreams
A world widens in contemplation
To be spent upon my knees
In absolute amazement

Not Going to Do It... Unless I Do Do it

It isn't a foolish thought, that I might have to be quiet
Never express my voice, having reason to be silenced
They never liked me, never trusted me, so why worry
Am I am afraid to offend someone? anyone at all?
Well yes, there are those I care enough not to offend
I wonder if it'll ever again be worth the punishment
I don't think so... and more now, I might be revealed
I know I shouldn't need to censor my voice, but I do
Saving myself from accusations and more, so I won't
The response is pandemonium, sound, nothing real
If I can speak freely without a worry perhaps I will
My views will not freely pour, the cost is too great
Don't count on me to become suddenly without guile
So see me as an enigma, a stranger or distant voice
After all, who I am, is mine to be, it is my choice
Should you want more, I can't help you
It will be your loss, n'est-ce pas vrai?

Rather to be Flawed, Than Fake and Perfect

Open your eyes, this is not the truth, life only lies
We despise ourselves until happy, as if a disguise
But it never works, we still know, until at last, no
Memory loss acts like a sharp glass, it cuts away
And you give up the rare joy you found, for it all
I'd rather it was left done and completely flawed
Than to finally do it again, even if it was perfect
To be honest if wrong, than falsely thought right
So long as my broken windows let in the light

A Great Fleet entered Hakata Bay

When the Mongols tried to conquer their world they'd failed
They couldn't defeat Japan, no matter how many the attempts
But the world still perceived them and feared them as victors
Not knowing how Japan refused to be subservient or defeated
The Japanese were a warlike people, preventing all invasions
Who could ever stop such a great fleet or armies in the ships
As the Japanese discipline and anger then stalled the invasion
A typhoon storm came, blew into the bay, wiped out the ships
The Kamikaze, the divine wind seemed to answer the calls
And did so yet again, as the Mongols again tried to invade
They never were able to complete the occupation of Asia
In Japan, the storm wrote the national narrative, for all time
For at Hakata Bay two armies collided, Storm God waiting
Few ships were able to retreat as the dead flooded the bay
As Japan resisted, they became great in their histories

She owned my heart and mind

Is there a way to unlove another being?
One who knew you in spirit and soul
Feeling like she had owned my heart
Ever since, lingering memories remain
Beautiful, beyond all who I have known
Her wild spirit never silent or inactive
She'd tamed me, called out my name
Loving her was destiny or electricity
Losing her brought me to my knees
She left me lost, a spirit so desolate
In such pain that had driven me insane
I can't forget the feeling of being loved
A confidence knowing I was her desired
Why should another have such power
I do not know, maybe I will, in time
I am dreaming for a clarity of mind
Having no great hope of anything
I saw nothing more than need to escape
All from having once run free with joy
My life's lack of focus, a part of pain
Proof of her owning all of my hours
All of my moments had been hers
I don't miss her, or so I tell myself

Imperfect Humans, Unable to create Life

There are perfectionists, who try to spread the toxic sickness
Becoming judgmental, demanding conformity to themselves
We shouldn't hold them up in worship, they are not superior
Dreams should not be sacrificed, nor should we bear witness
The high ideal is not shared, by conformity it overwhelms
A dream of human greatness is false, creating only misery
We cannot attain perfection, we cannot even replicate life
In the end what we seek is to make robots, not humans
The future of thought and imagination is lost

Isolation and Constructed Madness

Seeing a thing that's real but imagining it's not
Or to feel something soft, but imagine it is hard
One being must lie to themselves, refuse belief
All while manipulations swarm, in dissonance
For I've chosen belief, if somehow I am able
If I know that I cannot nor even know why
The contradictions own my mind and fears
If I'm truly mad, existing on a lunatic fringe
Where I'm walking upon a path of sorrow
My mind paves the road to fear and despair
All perceptions of truth are based on facts
I'm lost in madness, into the abyss, I stare
If facts can no longer ever be interpreted
Due to a mind's ache, impoverished state
There's nowhere to turn, as I hunger
My mental game is played, and I fail
I wondered why I bothered or cared
Especially since I'm alone again
Lost in my corner, silenced
A wound upon the corporal body
Society's ignored and broken
I'm waiting for selective reduction
But I also wait for restoration
Knowing that I'm obsolete
Knowing my worth is nothing
To those who cannot perceive worth

Humans of Earth

Chaos and entropy, decline of order and well being
Social decay and martyrs, tortures, violent extremes
All days left to us now are strewn with fetid hubris
This ignorant and arrogant species forever ruthless
Our world is glorious, but living here is dangerous
Especially for creatures with whom we share Earth
In decay, walk a path of absolutes and never arrive
Step by step, the time for living fades, now cursed
The goal before us has changed, from the past
Once humanity thrived, attempted great things
Now we beg to survive, barely able to dream

My Dark Exile

In an oppressively dark room, reflections begin
I find a window, where the light hurts my eyes,
Cast aside, sent to exile, where I can be silenced
Society shouting, aims to blame, a torment within
Assigned a role as societal other, resistant, defiant
Demanding control, my words remain in this abscess
To be ignored, even as a world burns, even if I'm right
These prophetic words will always have power, ever so
Here in fire and darkness, I can see clearly, day or night
Now a last moment, regrets tower o'er society's dreams
Turning away, to hide my face, and in streaming tears
Darkness and discomfort, now have led me to sleep
I am finished, the world can burn, I will still be me
I am not silenced, only placed in a place of exile
If being away from others is not punishment
Here I reflect, hidden in a world so hostile
Hidden from the gaze of darkness

Good Morning Indeed

Upon this day of new life, renewed and so refined
With long nails through his hand, a gift still divine
Bleeding out for a crime being the Exalted's son
Lifted from a pit, forgiven by sacrifice of the One
Life is not easy but it is good, and today we know
The cost of being unclean, the sorrow then grows
For given one choice we can choose it
But not everyone will do so

On the middle day

In between Friday and Sunday, comes a day of emptiness
Waiting for the unique day in history to end, in a universe
Never knew until it happened, and by then it was too late
We lived in ignorance, of brokenness and we did not know
A world waiting for perfection would wait forever onward
For what was offered: forgiveness, the cost: I will follow

A Terrible Day

The King was slain, for calling himself the son of God
Torn to shreds by a torturous cross, one that broke men
Made to suffer, beneath the acts of men, made to die

The Wrong Choice

Once awash in dreams of one who had imagination and hope
As I gradually lost my way I answered all questions with rope
In the moment, in that same instant, snuffed the candle's light
A hand tied rope to the rafters, while I planned a single action
In dark pitch black, none heard my empty voice, in ever night
My words were muffled, as those words in my throat choked
When the rope snapped, I fell to a concrete floor, in reflection
Darkness had stole my hopes for a future, I'd never be alright
But rather than make more attempts, I would face my doubts
To live to spite the dark, swallow even, despite all the scars
Looking inside for a route, and I will go forever, if I can
If only I can, let this cycle of death pass, so I can get out

"But in the end one needs more courage to live than to kill himself.”
                                                                               Albert Camus

You matter.
24/7 Suicide 988 (call/text)
Sexual Assault 800-656-4673
Domestic Violence 800-799-7233
Child Abuse 800-252-2873
Drugs/Alcohol 800-662-4357
Veterans Text 838255 for VA help
Trans 877-565-8860
TTY 800-799-4889 Crisis
Text START to 741741 for trained volunteers

The Yoke of Awareness

To lose all of our tomorrows, as future decisions are then erased
We've been foolish, we have lost our path, our hubris is our fate
Assuming our entitlement, to know the taste of the far horizon
We know our purpose, but we are not able to reach our goals
To rise above the atmosphere, and to touch the face of God
Or fall to the earth, aware now of life's existential questions

“Man has survived hitherto because he was too
ignorant to know how to realise his wishes Now
that he can realise them, he must either change
them or perish.”     William Carlos Williams

What if assuming the worst made it worse?

It is not wrong to want all acts and works to be perfect
It is not wrong to wish all travel to end on time and safe
But to worry about things, as if hands wringing ring best
Are false assumptions, and perhaps a form of idolatry
If  you exert power by worrying, you've created fate
Which would mean you also have godlike powers
And, no that doesn't count all good motives
You do not have these of that I am rather sure
So ask yourself another question
What if by envisioning a crash or disaster
you have instead, created one?
Not the best result, for sure

Beneath a lingering cloud

We are left to our destruction, our paradise has fallen
Waste deep in rot, I'm living in a world of damnation
All civilization has fallen down, bleeding out dreams

To remember, be aware, our hopes have been severed
Know we've nothing we can do, being dismembered
A cloud of acid rain and foul vapors of decay linger
All the dead sleep, bodies gray, faces frozen in terror
We're told to hope for a future, beneath toxic skies

"When you get wet in a fog it is
very difficult to dry yourself."
                        Shunryu Suzuki

In despair

If you suffer from suicidal thoughts, understand, you have a limited view of the world that you see. There are people who will miss you, and who would suffer in your absence.  Keep hope as long as you can.

Some resources for those who are in despair

You matter. 24/7 Suicide 988 (call/text)
Sexual Assault 800-656-4673
Domestic Violence 800-799-7233
Child Abuse 800-252-2873
Drugs/Alcohol 800-662-4357
Veterans Text 838255 for VA help
Trans 877-565-8860
TTY 800-799-4889
Crisis Text START to 741741 for trained volunteers

A Walker in the Waste

A dust arose from the walker's journey across the wasteland
It was a frozen desert, no water, no trees or despite the sun
The walker's cloak, flying like a flag, trailing behind in flow
Few seeing the walker understood his trek, thought him a fool
Exposed to the elements, a hostile land, so much to overcome
But the walker might now know why humans seek to escape
Our world is cold, dangerous, it smothers our lungs in dust
The path is constantly being lost, in mountains of clouds
And where will the walker find the path is terminus

Final seconds of the Doomday Clock

There in the dark of a heart, witness to massacre and disaster
Pitch black, with no wisdom and no higher mind, just power
Over all of fractured lives on earth, the shrouded angel flies
Time and time again, the innocence of the one who watches
Chimes midnight, the doomsday clock arrived at a last hour
We await our final judgment, a world's end, all human lives
Humans have created the final chapter, one tragic opera

Future Flaws

AI is feared, worry of it is legion, but where is the proof
Is our fixation upon it unjust, are we unaware of the truth?
Do we fear an artificial intelligence being so much deeper
Of an intelligence better than our own, leading to doom?
I'd like to ask, when were we ever so bright as to worry?
Haven't we, a creator, shown the way how not to think?
But a petty life form, filled with violence and narcissism.
Do worry about a flawed intellect, despair, and solipsism
We've enough of all to say that we should welcome hope
The form of a tool to show the path to take in the future

"If knowledge can create problems, it is not through
ignorance that we can solve them.”    Isaac Asimov

Let Me Know My Failures

Knowledge was formerly said to be power
But in present times its a burden or a curse
For if one who knows of it, but doesn't act
Being warned, made aware, it is indolence
For inaction allowed malevolence to grow
If in my suffering, I choose to be ignorant
I've wounded others, by all of my choices
Oh God, Lord let me be aware of all sin
That in my selfish ignorance I've caused
Oh let me pay in repentance of my acts

In the Silent peace of Oblivion

Into the center of the universe, we see ourselves upon a throne
The World is gone, all we know, has passed with flesh and bone
Our reality has been shattered, all that mattered lost in oblivion
So quiet here, no stimulation, silence here is a human meridian
The cosmic dividing line is here, between living and the lost
We pay for existence with every moment of life, paid the cost
This is not paradise, nor is it a sacred place, but it is fully silent
After a life in the flesh in the worries of every day, it is peaceful

"Horror fiction shows us that the control we believe
we have is purely illusory, and that every moment we
teeter on chaos and oblivion.”   Clive Barker

To create new humans, to slay, to gather and destroy

The invasion failed, yet every defeat didn't change their desires
But they'd been called to bring upon humanity a cruel harvest
The Ancient Ones and the minions called Deep Ones, gathered
Calling to the decayed DNA within, they'd possessed vast hate
Millennia past, humans had been slaves of Cthulhu upon earth
Perceiving the power of an alien "god" humans could not rebel
The Deep Ones were purpose born, designed to slay, to collect
The call echoed, all of Great Cthulhu's children were now ready
Great Cthulhu's powers commanded in humans the deepest fear
Even as humans girded itself and decided to defend themselves
If righteous the response, we are simply beings cloaked in flesh
Humanity was not weak to fear, for Cthulhu's power immense
All the evil beings with purpose were then gathering, staging
Ancient ones planned, Deep Ones hunted all humans inland
The most vile truth, not just killing humans, they stole them
Future breeding in the dark created a hybrid, we were used
There in human mothers' wombs, a vile new race was born
Days of the human species dominance of earth was over
Humanity's women forced to be bred, creating hybrids
Against our will we had created our future conquerors
Our tomb had been built upon hate, slaughter and fear
There had been no and could be no possible escape

“I have harnessed the shadows that stride from world

to world to sow death and madness.” H.P. Lovecraft

Great Cthulhu's Children Invade

Rising up from the fathoms, fetid ancient ones crawl out of the ocean
Slaughtering humans from a village, then begin moving further inland
Stunned townsfolk retreat, while building fires and arming themselves
The ancient ones have dense flesh, bullets bounce off them, with pain
But as villagers outnumber the invaders, they eventually win the battle
Once they stop the ancient ones, humans stare upon the sea creatures
How long they'd waited to invade no one knows, but they've hungered
With daylight, the corpses of humans and ancient ones mingle, decay
No human witness could doubt this horror, this would happen again
With heavy losses of neighbors and friends, it was hard to just wait

A Poet's Failure

In deepest thoughts, I'm just a child still having a great future
But a pain I'm in returns me to the reality, my death is certain
As I long to be rewarded, recognized for suffering for my art
Not lusting wealth, I long to be seen as doing something great
Like a child waiting for my birthday, even more, to be beloved
If my work isn't one anyone recognizes, why should they be?
I know I'm a failure, that my work is basic, poorly considered
Why should I worry, I should commit, go forward to the end
Death will make of me whatever it may wish, I'll be emptied
My choices and the end result left me unable to be redeemed
Being so very bitter, in constant fear, and dreaming of an end
I'm left without an opportunity to dream, life's result is bent
If a reporter of my worthless existence, I should be ignored
Let the punishment fit all of my crimes, I've run out of time
Catastrophic failure took over my path, it leaves only wrath

“Possibly a man who hates the land should dwell on shore forever. Alienation and
the long voyages at sea will compel him once again to dream of it, torment him
with the absurdity of longing for something that he loathes.”    Yukio Mishima

Hollow

This ghost I've become, no haunting to begin
Experiencing significant horror it already had
From many outside sources, and from within
Don't ask me what, I have sent those thoughts
To the depths of my being, to wait, I can't win
If I respond as needed, it wounds and grieves
If not, it becomes as if an act I have wrought

wild and alone

If we were just hungry animals, living by our biological needs

We will kill if necessary, we also need, killing all that bleeds

Place all in a room, give 30 people enough for 29 to live

There'll be deaths as hunger drives one to be terminative
The developed societies will often demand conformity
 They strip away one's individualism remorselessly
The tribe has power, the clan can impart shame
Leaders of both drive a group over the one
But all that matters to some, is the one
And being free from social bonds
Can lead one to violent ends

Not Ashamed

I am a witness, to the fact that hope is power
Spent life in an ink black hole, my soul bled
I'd screamed for help, to many, backs turned
My future is not fate, I'm free, now the hour
I trusted in a way, because I couldn't escape
And then a goblet of sorrow, wine blood red
I'd waited for one who'd promised to return
This life was not easy on me, I'd felt insane
But I still stood and made my stand, ready
For I was not afraid, nor was I ashamed
I was called by name by the one
And it burned inside me

Silly Humans

Anger, distrust, and boredom is engendered

When a mind loses its path, knowing shame

For the world wasn't given to us for our joy

Rather for our trials, with a firm conviction

We have a wonderful world, if we can hope

So many cannot, it is a world without trust

So in the end we are not all we can truly be

Bitter as if we earned or caused this world